pianos

A $19,000 piano might not seem recession-friendly. But it’s a bargain when it’s nearly indistinguishable from one that costs $100,000 more. The sole difference: The discount grand is digital.

Sound emanates from the entire body of the Yamaha AvantGrand, just as it does from a traditional, handbuilt grand’s vibrating strings. Four separate sets of speakers, each complete with high-pitched tweeters and thumping woofers, play tones recorded from cor-responding locations on an actual piano. That outdoes other digital models, which replicate notes from only two positions.